Ensuring Quality in the Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act
Official title: To amend title III of the Social Security Act to require a substance abuse risk assessment and targeted drug testing as a condition for the receipt of unemployment benefits, and for other purposes.
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Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E2261)
Ensuring Quality in the Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act - Amends title III (Grants to States for Unemployment Compensation Administration) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require state unemployment compensation (UC) laws to require, as a condition of UC eligibility for a benefit year, an applicant, before receiving any UC, to: (1) complete a substance abuse risk assessment; and (2) test negative for controlled substances within one week after the results of such assessment if the state determines that the applicant is a high-risk. Prescribes retesting requirements and UC payment suspensions for applicants who test positive.
Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide funding for such substance abuse testing out of current funds appropriated for the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) and, after application of those funds, for the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 3601: Ensuring Quality in the Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act. 112th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-3601/
"H.R. 3601: Ensuring Quality in the Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act." 112th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-3601/.
H.R. 3601, 112th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-3601/.
[H.R. 3601: Ensuring Quality in the Unemployment Insurance Program (EQUIP) Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/112-HR-3601/)